Anders Behring Breivik
Anders Behring Breivik (born 13 February 1979) is a Norwegian citizen and the self-admitted perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks. Police believe he acted alone but have not ruled out the possibility of an accomplice.
His anti-multiculturalist and right-wing militant ideologies were outlined in an online 1516 page manifesto titled 2083 – A European Declaration of Independence, published the day of the attacks under the pseudonym Andrew Berwick.
His beliefs
Politics
In his manifesto, Breivik describes himself as an economically liberal, revolutionary cultural conservative. In his manifesto, Breivik also takes the odd stance of praising Osama Bin Laden, saying that his organizational abilities (structural and methodological abilities) would have placed him as second in command, directly under the prophet Mohammed, if only he had lived in the time of the prophet (page 1472). He is also a former member of the Progress Party (FrP), which promotes libertarian, conservative and right-wing populist viewpoints, and its youth wing FpU. According to current FpU leader Ove Vanebo, Breivik was active early in the 2000s, but left the party in 2007 as his viewpoints became more extreme.
Influences
Breivik identified himself in a multitude of social media services as an admirer of, among others, Winston Churchill, Max Manus, and Dutch politician Geert Wilders, whose political party he described as “the only true party for conservatives”. On Twitter he paraphrased philosopher John Stuart Mill: “One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100,000 who have only interests”.
Ideas
Breivik is reported to have written many posts on the website document.no, described by Aftenposten as “Islam-critical and Israel-friendly”. He also attended meetings of “Documents venner” (Friends of Document), affiliated with the website. Dagens Næringsliv writes that Breivik sought to start a Norwegian version of the Tea Party movement in cooperation with the owners of document.no, but that they, after expressing initial interest, ultimately turned down his proposal because he did not have the contacts he promised. Due to the media attention on his Internet activity following the 2011 attacks, document.no compiled a complete list of comments made by Breivik on its website between September 2009 and June 2010.
Breivik penned a 1,500-page manifesto titled 2083 – A European Declaration of Independence, under the pseudonym “Andrew Berwick”, published in 2011. In the document he describes his background and discusses his political viewpoints. “Berwick” details his preparation for the attacks including but not limited to; the preparation of ANFO, methods of acquisition of chemical precursors, and his mental state in the days leading up to the attacks. In the preface he says he devoted nine years of his life to writing the book, working full time during the last three. The manifesto plagiarize substantial parts of the Unabomber manifesto with slightly altered passages. The alterations consists mainly of exchanging the words “leftists” for “cultural Marxists”, and “black people” for “muslims”.
Breivik wanted to see Europe more similar to nations such as Japan and South Korea, which he said are “not far from cultural conservatism and nationalism at its best”.
Six hours before the attacks, Breivik posted a YouTube video urging conservatives to “embrace martyrdom” and showing himself wearing a wetsuit and pointing a Ruger Mini 14.
Personal life
Breivik’s father was a Siviløkonom (Norwegian professional title, literally “civil economist”), who worked as a diplomat for the Royal Norwegian Embassy in London (and later Paris). His mother was a nurse. He has two half-brothers and two half-sisters, from the previous marriages of his parents. His parents divorced when he was one year old and his mother together with him and his half-sister moved from London back to Oslo. Breivik grew up in the affluent west-end of Oslo. He attended Smestad Grammar School, Ris Junior High, Hartvig Nissen High School and Oslo Commerce School. He took online study courses on Small Business Management at American InterContinental University. A former classmate has recalled that he was an intelligent student who often took care of people who were bullied. A former co-worker has described him as an “exceptional colleague” without racist tendencies. Breivik listed as one of his interests freemasonry, he was a Freemason a member of St. John’s Lodge in Oslo. After the attacks, his lodge said he had only minimal contact with the lodge, and suspended his membership. Breivik completed his service in the Norwegian Army, and studied at the BI Norwegian School of Management.
In late June or early July 2011, Breivik moved to the small rural town of Rena in Åmot, Hedmark county, about 140 km (86 miles) northeast of Oslo, where he operated a farming sole proprietorship under the name “Breivik Geofarm”. There is speculation that he could have used the company as a cover to legally obtain large amounts of artificial fertilizer and other chemicals for the manufacturing of fertilizer explosives. A farming supplier sold Breivik’s company six tonnes of fertilizer in May. In his manifesto he details how he used the company as a façade to acquire the chemicals without raising suspicion.
Source: Wikipedia